RoomCloud
We have added an interface to link our integrated channel manager to a new connectivity partner – RoomCloud. This is the newer version of the ParityRate interface. The RoomCloud functionality and organisation resembles the one of ParityRate.
Here are the improvements and changes introduced with the RoomCloud interface:
- RoomCloud has a slightly more different product organisation. There are room types (corresponding to the hotel room types) and Rates (as a single rate can be used with different room types).
- Example of room types: DBL, DBL-LUX, APP.
- Rate example: 2-ADULTS. In this case the 2-ADULTS rate can be used with all three room types, as the price will be different for every room type.
- Price examples: DBL/2-ADULTS = 90 EUR, DBL-LUX/2-ADULTS = 110 EUR, APP/2-ADULTS = 150 EUR.
Mappings
In Clock PMS, you need the following mappings:
- Room Types. We support 'Room Type' mapping, where 1 room type of RoomCloud is mapped to 1 room type of Clock PMS. Two or more room types of RoomCloud can be mapped to 1 room type of Clock PMS. In other words, the same available rooms coming from Clock PMS can be sold under different room types in RoomCloud. For each line of the mapping, max room restricts the number of available rooms to be sent (channel width).
- Rates.The combination of room type and rate of RoomCloud is mapped to one Clock PMS rate. Two or more RoomCloud products can be mapped to one and the same Clock PMS rate. And these products will be sent with the same array of prices and available room types.
- Rate - export disabled. A new option is the temporary stop of the export of a certain product. By clicking the 'Export disabled' checkbox in the mapping rate lines, you can temporary disable and then re-enable the export of a certain product.
- Companies.OTA channels can be mapped to companies. Similarly to ParityRate, you can map them to an event and manage block pickups.
- Transfer charges to company. We have added a new setting to the company mapping. Use it for the setup of the automatic transfer of guests' charges to a company folio for certain companies. This option can only be used when creating a booking and resembles the function of the 'Transfer room charges to Company/Event' checkbox in a booking.
Other improvements and changes
- Automatic charging of extra services.All extra services, selected in the channels and present in the XMLs of bookings, are now automatically charged to guests' folios. The supported charging modes in RoomCloud are:
- Daily – one charge for each day of a stay – with the submitted quantity for each day.
- By Person – one charge with a quantity depending on the number of guests.
- By Number – one charge with the submitted quantity
- The revenue group of these charges is 'Other'.
- To-Do for prepaid bookings. For bookings tagged as prepaid by the connectivity partner, we have created a special To-Do for the hotel staff to handle them appropriately.
- An option for mixed sales of room types and rooms. Up till now you could only map and sell one of these two in ParityRate – either room types or rooms.
- Improved logs of exports and errors.We have developed a new log of exports for the easier tracking of export problems and the reasons for them.
- Flexible search. Now you can also search by 'Affected date', i.e. the date for which you need the price and the availability. There are also additional filters for RoomCloud codes of a room type and rate, as well as for Clock PMS codes of a room type / room.
- Due to the large amount of data in the log, we have set the following restrictions:
- Products. We support a log of all products, as for each one:
- Dates. We support a log by 'Affected date' - 360 days in the future and 30 days in the past.
- For each 'Affected date', we keep the last 10 real changes. Changes are tracked only if something is actually changed. If a message is sent, being the same as the previous one, it is not recorded as a change and is only counted.
- Errors. The detailed descriptions of the received errors from channels are stored for a period of 30 days.
Improvements
- Void Reason. We have added a new option for entering a reason for voiding charges, payments or folios. This reason appears in the Charge Control and Payment Control reports.
- Folio closing without a document restriction. Hotels requiring all issued documents to be invoices, now can forbid the folio closing without a document. Choose 'Disable' for the 'Folio closing without a document' setting in 'Settings' - 'Document Type(s)'. By default the setting is 'Enabled'.
- New quick search.The quick search from the navigation bar is now opened in a sidebar, allowing the user to stay in the page being used.
New Fast Booking and Company Search
- WRS – restriction of the number of the entered adults and children on the first page. Up till now guests could enter any value for adults and children on the first page of your WRS. Despite being specified that only the number of adults and children for the first room is to be entered, sometimes guests make the mistake to enter the entire number of adults and children (when multiple rooms are booked). To avoid this confusion, we have added a new setting to the WRS - 'Max guests per unit'. Enter the maximum capacity of your largest room – max guests and max children. This way the first page will show dropdown menus (selects) instead of fields to be filled in. Guests will be able to choose within the restrictions set by you and will know they need to enter the number of guests only for the first room being booked.
- Advanced search – new guarantee policy column.
- Payment report – a change to the columns. The information used to appear in one column. Now it is divided and shown into two columns - Payer and Document number/date. This way it is easier to be copied for the purposes of other systems. The change applies to the export in a CSV format, too.
- PBX add-on is no longer a beta version and the use of the module is tracked.
- Adyen - integrated payments. We have changed the pre-authorization capture, pre-authorization cancellation and refund screens to give you a clearer feedback of the operation status.
- The name of the subscription has been added to the login format for easier identification of the subscription used by users having more than one subscription.
Kiosk
Additional login options for guests not having a PIN. If you work with guests whose email addresses you don't have (ТТОО/GDS guests), you can enable the new 'Allow login with last name (as alternative pin) ' setting in 'Settings' - 'Kiosks'. The Kiosk will also show an alternative field – 'Last name' and guests will be able to choose how to log in – through PIN or their last name. In both cases a booking number is required, as the change here is that apart from the hotel booking number, the booking reference number can be entered, too. It is specified in the reference number field of the booking and can correspond to the voucher number (for TTOO guests), GDS number of the booking or the number of the booking from ОТА channels.
Kiosk - login with PIN or Last Name
- Touch screen display calibration. With new firmware of the Kiosk, we have added a new option for the display calibration. It only applies to new installations. On the first startup, the Kiosk requires calibration. There is also an option for reset and new calibration, if needed.
- Default background. We have added a default background for the Kiosk, which can be changed from the 'Start background image' and 'Background image' settings in 'Settings' - 'Kiosk'.
Fixes
- Room calendar – the suggested available days weren't correct for indirect occupations, when no direct occupation followed.
- Contract rate vouchers – the amount of the voucher did not appear immediately after calculation.
- The change of the company in the event did not the company in the booking
- The search for booking offers by text sometimes didn't work.
- An email field was missing on the Authorize.Net payment screen when even set to appear.
- CRS-WBE – the language selection did not work correctly and it didn't transfer to the WRS.
- PmsApi – a company booking couldn't be created.
- Contract Rate – the deletion of a season in a filled-in contract led to an error.
- Booking edit – entering the 'Enter' key in the contact info fields activated the automatic room change feature.
- Contract rate vouchers – voucher voiding didn't work.
- There was a problem with the combination of offers without a guarantee policy in the WRS.
- WRS – calendar by from date – the minimum wasn't correctly determined and in some cases it also showed the yesterday's date.
- Booking screen – the Early checkout message sometimes appeared without being necessary.
- Booking offers – the custom template table was different from our standard one and columns were missing.
POS
- Covers/Customers.A new setting has been added ('Management' - 'POS settings' - 'Ask for covers on new folio'). If enabled:
- With each new bill, a screen will appear prompting you to enter the number of covers/customers for this bill.
- The number of clients can be edited on the charging screen – 'Covers' button. The button shows the entered number.
- Use the new 'Covers/Customers Report' to see the statistics of the number of covers/customers. For a certain period, by days or in total, it shows statistics of the closed folios: Total, Covers, Folios, Amount Per Cover, Amount Per Folio, Average stay (per folio).
- Void Reason. When voiding a charge, payment or bill, you need to enter a reason for the voiding. This reason appears in the control reports.
- POS API. An 'orders' endpoint in a new branch of pos_api. The new end point gives information of the orders (not the bills) made for each table. There is also a push channel via which a signal is sent for each newly added order. The new endpoint can be used for order fiscalisation (separately from bills) for the states where it is required.
- The list of closed folios has been paginated. This way it opens much faster for the users not performing daily closures in the POS.
- Fix - The quantity of a charged product could no longer be increased without an order.